Secondary School Students Understanding Of Energy Flow In Ecosystems

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Abstract

Understand
ing of energy flow
concepts
in ecosystems
is one prerequisite
area among students for good
performance in
biology
education
. The pattern and trends in biology subject performance in
Kenyan
national examination
s,
has revealed apparent compl
exity in understanding
such
concepts in ecology
. The
study therefore assessed
secondary school
students‟ understanding of energy flow
concepts
in the
ecosystems at
Kenyan ordinary
level
curriculum
.
T
he study focused on
ecology,
a subject area taught at
for
m three
study level
under the current
Kenyan
8
-
4
-
4 education system. The target po
pulation was
form
three students
drawn
from
western Kenya
secondary schools.
The sample frame
was
selected from form
three
student
s across secondary schools that had enrolled
for examinable biology subject
.
A descriptive
analysis was employed
to characterize and determine student
s understanding of energy flow
and loss in
the ecosystem
s
. Findings from the study revea
led
result
ant generation of alternative outcomes in
learning
a
nd understanding energy flow
concepts
in ecosystems. Further,
it revealed that
student‟s conceptualize
living organisms as separate individuals which exist in ecosystems
. In addition, students could not relate
interdependence of several components of an ec
osystem such as animals, plants, gases, food and minerals
and the amount of energy transferred across trophics.